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Wednesday, 26 August 2015

I've never before had to write a negative review of any service, but it has finally come to this. I've tried my best to resolve the issue with Beautiful Mess Dreads but they are refusing to respond to my messages any more and my posts to the company page keep getting deleted. If you are contemplating making an order, please read of my experiences before you commit, so you can be sure if you want to take the risk.I ordered a pair of falls from Beautiful Mess Dreads for Amphi Festival. I specified the date when I was leaving for the festival and that I needed the dreads for the event, if it was possible. The seller promised me that they would absolutely make it for the occasion and there was still weeks of time. After some time, I messaged her asking about how the falls were coming along. She assured me that they were being worked on, so I assumed things were fine.

On the week of the festival I was getting worried and asked for a tracking code and about how the dreads were shipped. I finally got a picture of a receipt, whic showed me that not only were the dreads shipped way later than what we discussed, there was no way they could reach me in time with the type of shippings chosen.

Beautiful.mess never notified me of any delays. When I asked about the shipping, she just told me that she can't help if the post office works slow, even when she herself had shipped the falls ten days later than what we agreed, and the shipping she chose had a longer estimate on delivery than what was the date I should have had the falls. She only purchased regular shipping, which could in no case have made it to me in time, even when she was already behind schedule.

I asked for a partial refund because of the delayed shipping and she was immediately very defensive and told me she can at most refund the shipping, which she said was 4 pounds. Well, she had earlier sent me a picture of the receipt and the shipping had cost more. Plus a 4 pounds discount on 90 pound falls that were shipped late with no notification of delay does not sound like a fair deal to me. She did not apologize for the late shipping at all. I opened a Paypal dispute, but they resolved it to her favor.When I finally had the time to look at the falls in detail, one is longer than the other and the ends are not finished like in all other dreads posted on her page, and the ribbons on the falls are not the same colour (one is pink and one is purple, not even close, she only commented that if I wore the falls "right" the ribbons would not show).The falls do not look or feel like they should according to all other product pictures, the ends are blunt and not feathered like in the pictures. 90 pound falls should have matching ribbons. I have received no refund and no apology at all (well, she apologized for my country's post not working fast, if you count that...). A simple "I'm sorry" would have gone a long way.I asked for a return address so I could return the falls. Now I'm unfriended on Facebook and Beautiful Mess flat on refuses to give me one, saying she will not discuss the issue further with me. My post about the issue has mysteriously vanished from the company page.Just in case something would go wrong with your order, you might want to consider companies that actually care for their customers and respect set schedules. I have ordered dreads and falls many times before for many different companies, and never had problems before. I am very disappointed in the way Beautiful.Mess treats their customers and hope others can avoid having to go through the same ordeal as me.Key words: Beautiful.Mess, Beautiful Mess, Beautifulmess, Beautiful.Mess Dreads, Beautiful Mess Dreads, Beautifulmess Dreads, dreads, synthetic dreadlocks, dreads and accessories, review, customer experience

Tuesday, 25 August 2015

I've been playing around with the La Splash liquid to matte lipsticks. I've found that the formula really differs between shades. The best ones I've tried so far are Ghoulish and Untamed. Malevolent is a gorgeous cool dark red, but a bit thicker than the best ones. Being thicker means that Malevolent feels more drying and is more likely to crumble in the center of the lips. It still wears well, just not as well as the best ones. In photos Malevolent looks blotchy easily, but IRL the effect doesn't really show, it's just the bright photography lights.

La Splash Malevolent

I'd say Malevolent is one of my top dark reds easily! I've yet to try Fyrinnae's darkest matte red, but it's warmer than Malevolent. I'm going through a dark lipstick phase and Malevolent is just what I need: dark, but still a natural shade, does not smudge, does not bleed and hardly need touching up. The shade works well with my skin tone and I think it makes me look paler, which I like.

Malevolent looks way less blothcy in full face shots. This is closer to what it looks
in real life than the close-ups.

Monday, 24 August 2015

I ordered these falls for Amphi, but despite the promises of the seller, they were not completed in time. I only tried them on today and I have to say they are far too thin for me. I can't cover my own hair with them, they barely cover my buns when I pull all of the dreads to the front. I do like these pictures a lot, but the falls won't work for clubwear. I'll be doing a proper review later after I've discussed with the seller (who already claimed it's the post office's fault they came late, although she was seven days late from the promised schedule and did not notify me of any delays...)

But on to the pictures! Today I started work on touching up the upper edge of my sleeve tattoo, as the lace pattern there is too tight and already after a few years is beginning to loose sharpness. This meant lasering the edge so the ink can fade and a new edge can be tattooed. The lasering felt really nasty, and I had a long day at work, so I needed to do something fun to relax at home afterwards. What could be more relaxing than playing with glitter and corsets?

I did a glitter look loosely following Nude's tutorial. I used a different liner, Urban Decay's Junkie, and did the crease shadow with pure black eyeshadow so it would go well with my PVC shrug. The corset is new, I got it from ReStyle to use as undergarment as it has a gorgeous waist curve, but haven't gotten around to using it much yet. Necklace is by Lumissa's Purple Octopus.

The lipstick is Malevolent by La Splash, the perfect dark cool red!

How do you like the cooler tones I chose for the pictures? I'm trying out Adobe Lightroom and have taken a liking to adjusting the lighting to be really blue-ish, I think it works with the shades I usually wear, and it makes my skin look so nice and pale!

Sunday, 23 August 2015

I usually keep my newest make-up products on top of my vanity instead of putting them in the drawers with the rest of the make-up. The idea is that I would then get to know the new products and try them out a few times so I would get the hang of using them and remember them better later. I've had the My Beauty Addiction eyeshadow quad for over a month and I still don't want to put the shadows away! I find myself reaching for them instead of my usual neutrals.

The quad doesn't have a name, but it was one of the "Palette of the Week" sets at My Beauty Addiction. I was a bit disappointed with one of the shades, Illumi, not matching the shop picture, but the shade does still perform well. The shades are pink, but muted pinks, not too bright and obvious. I can pass these off as neutrals in daily use, and the red base colour really sets off my green eyes.

This look was done for a home photoshoot so I could get some official looking face shots to use in work related situations, when game websites and magazines occasionally need a picture of me. While the make-up looks quite heavy in close-ups, in the final pictures it's not that dark, the lights fade make-up and the camera never seems to capture it the same way as it looks in the mirror.

Saturday, 22 August 2015

I felt super lucky to get an invite to the launch party of Urban Decay cosmetics in Finland! The event was held at a nightclub in Helsinki, so I had to sit in the train for hours to get there, but boy was the make-up pretty! I've been using Urban Decay's eyeshadow primer for over five years, but previously have had to hoard it from abroad or order online. Aside from primer, I only owned a Naked Basics palette, which is my go-to palette for business trips. It has the perfect neutral shades for a light look during the day and a faint smoky eye for evening occasions.

The best part of the event was to be able to try out make-up by Urban Decay and really get to know the selection.

The Electric palette. I might need to buy this eventually, I like the bright colours!

There were Urban Decay's make-up artists at the event and the possibility to have them do fast looks. I had put on some make up at home, but wanted to try a smoky eye with the lovely purples UD has. The following pictures are taken by Panda from Piece of Panda, we went to the event together and it was so much fun finally meeting her in person instead of just online!

Urban Decay is now available at Sokos department stores in Tampere and Helsinki, and from Sokos' online store. I've already visited the Tampere counter twice to get two eyeliner pencils and a glitter liner! I'm so happy that finally I can get Primer Potion fast and easy if I run out, and I'm sure I'll love many of the other products Urban Decay offers. I've set my eye on the Electric palette and Naked 3 seems to be calling my name :)

Friday, 21 August 2015

I have a pile of pictures from the Urban Decay party I was lucky enough to get invited to, but because I still have to edit them a bit, here's picture of the outfit I wore to the event! There was no dress code but I wanted to wear something pretty, so I went for the Iron Fist dress with lambs that hung in my closet. It's light and nice to wear, and not too sweet because the lambs are wearing bondage straps and skulls ;P

Thursday, 20 August 2015

Today I wanted to try out another one of the La Splash lipsticks. This one is called Faline. Faline is a bold dark pink, so I decided to pair it with neutral eyes, but felt like they needed a little bit of extra. This is where my new Urban Decay liner comes in! Yesterday I bought two liners, and of them was just the right shade to go with today's eyes. It's a matte purple called Plushie. I applied Plushie as upper lid liner with the tiniest wing and on the waterline to really define my eyes well. I'm really impressed with the lasting power of both Plushie and Faline, both were almost pristine after a full day at work.

Fyrinnae Moonchild on the lid, Fyrinnae Sloth Snuggles in the crease. The liner is Plushie, a matte purple by Urban Decay.

Wednesday, 19 August 2015

Ever since I bought Sebastian, the greige nude lipstick from OCC, I've had a liking for grey nudes. When I came across Ghoulish by La Splash cosmetics, I knew I had to have it! Their shipping is a bit steep so I ended up making an order together with a friend to keep the costs down. I got 8 lippies in total, but that's absolutely reasonable because I found a -10% discount code, right? Right?! Liquid to matte formula is my absolute favourite so I totally needed the whole bunch ;P

I swatched some of the lippies and took pictures. The dark shades look awesome and Ghoulish is just what I was looking for, a perfect matte greige!

Tiana, Faline, Malevolent, Untamed, Vampire and Ghoulish.

Skin swatches in the same order: Tiana, Faline, Malevolent, Untamed, Vampire and Ghoulish. On lips the shades are a little bit darker because of the pigment lips have.

Tiana, Faline (looking brighter that IRL) and Malevolent.

Untamed, Vampire and Ghoulish. Ghoulish looks too warm in this picture, the one below is more accurate on my screen. I can't wait to try out Untamed, the dark brown looks so interesting!

I applied Ghoulish in the morning before going to work. This is what it looks on my lips after 10+ hours, a Turkish buffet lunch and an ice cream with whipped cream on top an no touch-ups. I'm amazed!

There is wear in the middle, but not much, and the lipstick does not crumble visibly as some matte liquid-to-mattes do.

I was in a hurry so just mascara and neat brows to go with Ghoulish!

Möttönen the cat seems very serious. I went to see the new Urban Decay counterat Sokos Tampere and tried eyeliners, that's why I have coloured squiggles on my hand!

Monday, 17 August 2015

I uncovered some more WGT pictures from this year! These are from the marketplace area at Agra. It's a true candy shop for any goth. So many stalls with everything from mass-produced wardrobe staples to unique, hand-crafted items. Something for each wallet and style.